Mike Rosen was the project leader of PDX 2 Gulf Coast, a journey to the BP oil spill which spawned the upcoming graphic novel Oil and Water. On Saturday, Rosen moderated the "Comics as Journalism" panel, which addressed some of the ways that sequential art can function as a source for news, in some ways surpassing that of print journalism.
The panelists were Sara Glidden, creator of How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less; Matt Bors, editorial cartoonist and co-author of War Is Boring; Steve Duin, Oregonian columnist and co-author of Oil and Water; and Shannon Wheeler, New Yorker cartoonist and the second half of the Oil and Water team. All but Glidden live in Portland.
Each panelist was given time to talk about their projects, after which Rosen started a group discussion followed by a question and answer period.
Sarah Glidden, who travelled to Israel as part of the Taglit Birthright Israel program and recorded her experience in her book, said that her subsequent project was "full-on reportage."
The Waiting Room, about displaced Iraqis living in Syria, is what Glidden calls "actual graphic journalism, which is different from a memoir."
The 21-page story is available on the website Cartoon Movement, which collects editorial cartoons and works of comics journalism.
From Glidden's point of view, comics journalism does not provide the complete picture. Rather, it provides an entry point though which readers can gain access to the story.
"There's a difference between reading about a story and being able to recognize the participants as human beings," Glidden pointed out. "Then when you read the paper you know the people from the comic."
Glidden is now working on a book about journalists, who are not often seen in the context of their stories. She describes the piece as an "introduction to how journalism works."
Matt Bors, who is an editor at Cartoon Movement, worked with journalist David Axe to produce War is Boring, a memoir of Axe's journalism in the Middle East.
"It's mostly about him and his problems," said Bors.
The cartoonist travelled to Afghanistan along with comics journalist Ted Rall (The Year of Loving Dangerously, Silk Road to Ruin) and photographer Steven Cloud on a project funded on Kickstarter. Not embedded with any military outfit, the group wandered on their own, filing reports on a regular basis.
"I got to dip my toes into comics journalism," Bors recalled.
The next piece he is editing for Cartoon Movement is a story by Dan Archer about the Nisoor Square shootings in Iraq, an incident in which Blackwater military contractors are alleged to have killed 17 Iraqi civilians.
Bors also hopes to receive a grant to travel to Haiti and pair up with a local journalist to report on events in that country.
Steve Duin began by talking about the dwindling attention spans of readers, which does not give journalists much time to research and reflect. On the business side, web-based news sources are "slaves to website hits."
Comics journalism is a medium that is exciting to the columnist, and he credited the work of Joe Sacco (Footnotes in Gaza), Bors, and others. He saw this as a growing trend of acceptance for comics in general, citing Time magazine's naming of Fun Home by Alison Bechdel as the "Best Book" of 2006. Not "best comic book" or "graphic novel," but one with --and above-- Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower: Al-Quaeda and the Road to 9/11.
During the PDX 2 Gulf Coast journey, Duin was able to see the effect of 200 million gallons of spilled oil on the environment and lives of those on the Gulf. In those ten days, he saw everything from the local head of Homeland Security catching lemon sharks to fishermen smuggling cocaine after shrimping stopped paying.
In his effort to chronicle the effect of the spill, Duin saw the dichotomous relationship between the fishermen and the oil.
"The people are dependent on an industry that is destroying the environment which is important to them," he said.
Shannon Wheeler started the description of his Gulf Coast visit by noting how much easier it was for cartoonists to gain access to certain areas than journalists with cameras. As he noted in the WonderCon "Comics for Social Justice" panel, a sketchbook and a positive attitude go a long way.
The people in the affected region have developed a dry sense of humor from dealing with their situation.
"We went into a restaurant in this fishing town and asked what they'd recommend, and the guy said, 'Meatball sandwich.'"
Humor is not the only means the people have for responding to the spill, according to Wheeler. He showed slides of graffiti and impromptu billboards made by angry residents.
"This affects their live profoundly," Wheeler said. "They're dependent on both oil and seafood."
Oil and Water will be released by Fantagraphics in September.
Rosen's first question to the panel was who they thought the audience for comics journalism was.
In Bors' opinion, the target is "comics fans [and] anyone with an interest in non-fiction. Everyone, hopefully."
The cartoonist felt that the audience first needed to be convinced that comics journalism is valid, and that audience includes editors.
"Words editors give deference to words. I hope that what we do will change that."
Glidden had her eye on the group made up of people who "say they don't like journalism," who are put off by the mass of information available.
"For people who are 'not into news or politics,'" she said, "maybe comics can help."
"Newspapers will die with the Baby Boomer."
Duin, who called himself a "word journalist," made a bold statement about the future of the profession.
"Newspapers will die with the Baby Boomer," he said.
His own children have grown up with much more visual media, and he sees that continuing.
Duin hoped that people will overcome their prejudice about comics, much as they have begun to do about homosexuality.
Rosen then brought up the cost of doing comics journalism versus print, and Glidden pointed out that journalism in general was not free.
"We raised $26,000 with Kickstarter," said Bors. "There is definitely stuff going on. I'd rather be a comics journalist than a print journalist."
"So would I," Duin chimed in.
A member of the audience asked the group how they saw the role of the comics journalist in terms of participation in the story itself.
Glidden's opinion was that there was "no such thing as truly objective."
"I prefer to see the reporter," she said. "It's important for people to know that someone's involved."
Bors agreed, saying that his style of reporting was objective and would continue to be so.
"Cartoonists are not set up to be objective," he added. "You benefit from the cartoonist's perspective."
The next question raised was about the advantage of being a cartoonist in war journalism, and Bors agreed that there was one.
"People opened up to me and I did more drawings of people when they knew," he recalled.
Duin asked if there was a feeling of resentment toward American journalists in other countries, but Glidden credited the citizens with the ability to distinguish between the government and the person.
"If you're open," she said, "they'll be open with you."
Pointing out the penchant of cartoons for exaggeration, another audience member asked how the artist could reconcile that with journalism.
Wheeler immediately responded: "We're fair and balanced," jokingly referencing the motto of Fox News.
"That's an exaggeration," laughed Glidden.
She continued: "It's what you choose to show. You have to make sure that your honesty shows through."
"Comics make it clear where the exaggeration is," Wheeler added.
"You always condense the events to fit into a panel," said Bors. "All journalism does that."
"You want to have universal themes that people can relate to. If you can do that, it can be timeless."
The final question of the panel brought up the ability of photojournalism to create enduring images, which the man called "cultural artifacts." Was it possible for comics journalism to create the same kind of enduring legacy?
"You want to have an emotional core for it to work," said Wheeler. "If that's there, you can endure. It's tough to do."
Glidden agreed, adding: "You want to have universal themes that people can relate to. If you can do that, it can be timeless."
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